ROCKLAND – Last Monday, Connor Gavin combined with Mike Kelly to finish off a no-hitter for the East Bridgewater High baseball team in a 3-2 win over Hull.

On Tuesday, Gavin decided he wanted a no-hitter all for himself.

The junior right-hander held Rockland without a hit in a 2-0 win while striking out 11 and walking three (plus hitting a batter).

“It’s what we’ve seen all year from him,” said EB coach Pat Cronin. “What really is outstanding is he throws strikes consistently. Even when you know it’s coming, he throws hard enough to throw it by you.”

Gavin saved his best for last, striking out the side on 10 pitches in the bottom of the seventh.

“It’s just adrenaline,” said Gavin. “I knew throughout the whole game (that I had a no-hitter) and it just came down to that last inning when I started thinking about it.”

Gavin set down 13 consecutive Rockland batters from the first through the fifth inning before running into trouble in the bottom of the sixth.

Rockland’s Tyler Murphy led off by getting hit by a pitch, and Jon Turner drew a two-out walk, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate in Rockland’s No. 3 hitter, Matt Nicholson.

“Don’t do a thing differently than what you’ve done before and just throw strikes and let us make the plays,” Cronin told Gavin in a mound visit before Nicholson’s at-bat.

Gavin induced a fly-out to right fielder Alex Carey to end the threat.

“It’s all about the win,” said Gavin. “I wasn’t really worried about the no-hitter, just trying to throw strikes.

“I couldn’t really find the zone as good as I usually do, but I got it over and let my defense do their thing. They played a great defense today. I wouldn’t have done it without them.”

EB catcher Chris Leavitt had a strong game as Gavin’s batterymate.

“Leavitt called virtually that entire game,” said Cronin. “I just let it go when I saw that he had a no-hitter. I decided to just stay out of it and it worked out very well.”

Southpaw Brian Cohen (seven innings, two runs, seven hits, no walks, three strikeouts) was the tough-luck loser for Rockland (4-5, 3-4 in the South Shore League).

“He mixed up his speeds real well and locations,” said Rockland coach Nick Liquori. “Any time you can keep a team off-balance like those guys – I think they’ve put up like 80 runs so far this year – and he held them to two runs.”

Page 2 of 2 - After allowing five hits in the first two innings, Cohen settled in, allowing just two hits over the final five innings. The lefty also sat down 12 in a row in the middle innings.

The Vikings (9-0, 7-0 in the SSL), who clinched a tournament berth with the win, scored both their runs in the second inning.

With the bases loaded, a Leavitt sacrifice fly scored Gavin and leadoff man Owen Harrington brought home Ryan Graham with a single.

Neither team committed an error.

“Nothing I can complain about today,” said Liquori, whose defense was highlighted by shortstop Murphy and third baseman Matt Clougherty. “We really improved our defense against a team that hits the ball all over the field.”

Chris McDaniel can be reached at CMcDaniel@enterprisenews.com and followed on Twitter @ChrisMcDaniel88.